Wu SanguiWade-Giles romanization Wu San-kuei ,Pinyin Wu Sangui ( born 1612 , Liaotung Province Liaodong, China—died Oct. 2, 1678 , Hen-chou Hengzhou, Hunan ) Chinese general who invited the Manchus Manchu of Manchuria into China and helped them establish the Ch’ing Qing dynasty in 1644. Later, in southwest southwestern China, he led a revolt against the Ch’ing Qing in an attempt to set up his own dynasty.

Wu had been the Ming general in charge of defending the northeast frontier against the ManchusManchu. When the Imperial imperial capital at Peking Beijing was attacked by the rebel bandit leader Li Tzu-ch’engZicheng, Wu’s forces were summoned to aid in raising the siege, but the city fell (April 1644) before his arrival. Li then advanced against Wu, who appealed to the Manchus Manchu for aid. A combined force of Ming and Manchu troops drove Li from PekingBeijing, where the Manchus Manchu then set up the Ch’ing Qing dynasty. Although loyal Ming officials beseeched Wu for aid in restoring the Ming dynasty, he accepted high rank from the Manchus Manchu and for nearly 30 years fought for the Manchu Qing cause.

In 1659 Wu was put in charge of eliminating the remnants of Ming resistance in the southwest, and to this end he was given civil and military control of the southwestern province of Yunnan. With these powers he created an independent satrapy in Yunnan and neighbouring Kweichow ProvinceGuizhou province, collecting taxes and developing trade monopolies in the area. At the same time two other commanders set up similar satrapies in the neighbouring southern provinces of Kwangtung Guangdong and FukienFujian, and South China became an independent power that rivalled rivaled the Ch’ing Qing government in the north.

In 1673, when the Ch’ing Qing dynasty tried to check these southern kingdoms, Wu led them in a rebellion. Wu chose the name of Chou for the new dynasty he set up and proclaimed himself emperor. In 1674 he advanced into central China but then hesitated, possibly because the Manchus Manchu were holding his son as hostage. The Manchus Manchu then seized the initiative, and, soon thereafter, with the battle turning against himbut Wu still kept his force active. In March 1678 Wu set up his own dynasty, named Dazhou, in Hengzhou (now Hengyang), Hunan province, and proclaimed himself the emperor. Later that same year, Wu died of dysentery. His grandson continued the rebellion until 1681, when it was finally crushed. The incident is known in Chinese history as the Revolt of the Three Feudatories.